Matthew 4-5

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

4 Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

² And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.^(A)

³ And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [^[a]loaves of] bread.

⁴ But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.^(B)

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on ^[b]a turret (pinnacle, ^[c]gable) of the temple ^[d]sanctuary.^(C)

⁶ And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.^(D)

⁷ Jesus said to him, ^[e]On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, ^[f]test thoroughly, or ^[g]try exceedingly the Lord your God.^(E)

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.

⁹ And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.^(F)

¹¹ Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested and put in prison, He withdrew into Galilee.

¹³ And leaving Nazareth, He went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali—

¹⁴ That what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be brought to pass:

¹⁵ The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, in the ^[h]way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles [of the ^[i]peoples who are not of Israel]—^(G)

¹⁶ The people who sat ^[j](dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned.

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, ^[k]crying out, Repent (^[l]change your mind for the better, heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

¹⁸ As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, throwing a dragnet into the sea, for they were fishermen.

¹⁹ And He said to them, Come ^[m]after Me [as disciples—letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!

²⁰ At once they left their nets and ^[n]became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

²¹ And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right; and He called them.

²² At once they left the boat and their father and ^[o]joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].

²³ And He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness and infirmity among the people.

²⁴ So the report of Him spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all who were sick, those afflicted with various diseases and torments, those under the power of demons, and epileptics, and paralyzed people, and He healed them.

²⁵ And great crowds joined and accompanied Him about, coming from Galilee and Decapolis [the district of the ten cities east of the Sea of Galilee] and Jerusalem and Judea and from the other [the east] side of the Jordan.

5 Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.

² Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

³ Blessed (happy, ^[p]to be envied, and ^[q]spiritually prosperous—^[r]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a ^[s]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!^(H)

⁵ Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, ^[t]spiritually prosperous—^[u]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!^(I)

⁶ Blessed and fortunate and happy and ^[v]spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God ^[w]enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be ^[x]completely satisfied!^(J)

⁷ Blessed (happy, ^[y]to be envied, and ^[z]spiritually prosperous—^[aa]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!

⁸ Blessed (happy, ^[ab]enviably fortunate, and ^[ac]spiritually prosperous—possessing the ^[ad]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!^(K)

⁹ Blessed (enjoying ^[ae]enviable happiness, ^[af]spiritually prosperous—^[ag]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and ^[ah] maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God!

¹⁰ Blessed and happy and ^[ai]enviably fortunate and ^[aj]spiritually prosperous ^[ak](in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

¹¹ Blessed (happy, ^[al]to be envied, and ^[am]spiritually prosperous—^[an]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.

¹² Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you.^(L)

¹³ You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

¹⁵ Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men that they may see your ^[ao]moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and ^[ap]recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.

¹⁷ Do not think that I have come to do away with or ^[aq]undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.

¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away and perish, not one smallest letter nor one little hook [identifying certain Hebrew letters] will pass from the Law until all things [it foreshadows] are accomplished.

¹⁹ Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

²¹ You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be ^[ar]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court.^(M)

²² But I say to you that everyone who continues to be ^[as]angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be ^[at]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be ^[au]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You ^[av]cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be ^[aw]liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire.

²³ So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any [grievance] against you,

²⁴ Leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift.

²⁵ Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way traveling with him, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.

²⁶ Truly I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last fraction of a penny.

²⁷ You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.^(N)

²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹ If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna).

³⁰ And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).

³¹ It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.

³² But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.^(O)

³³ Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].

³⁴ But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

³⁵ Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.^(P)

³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.

³⁷ Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.^(Q)

³⁸ You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.^(R)

³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the evil man [who injures you]; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too.

⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your undershirt (tunic), let him have your coat also.

⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two [miles].

⁴² Give to him who keeps on begging from you, and do not turn away from him who would borrow [^[ax]at interest] from you.^(S)

⁴³ You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;^(T)

⁴⁴ But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,^(U)

^45 [ay]To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?

⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?

⁴⁸ You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete ^[az]maturity of godliness in mind and character, ^[ba]having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.^(V)